Over the course of a generation or two everyone forgot what teeth look like.
At some point it appears a decision was made to decorate every actual tooth on television with veneers, and to magically transform every influencers’ smile, right before they hit 100,000 followers.
Gaps and an overbite, crowding and crookedness have been censored – like nudity and crows feet.
If our screens are to be believed, the human mouth is not full of 32 separate teeth, but of bright white mounds, with no space distinguishing one from the other.
They glow in the dark, attracting moths who mistake them for light bulbs. They're even and straight, with no signs of wear and tear, as though they've never been used for anything except to smile.
And then came a new ad by Gucci.
Gucci designer Alessandro Michele decided to use the mouth of Surfbort frontwoman Dani Miller, whose smile has gaps and whose teeth are the colour of, well, teeth.
"The strangeness is human so it’s beautiful," Michele said.
As the comments rolled in, they seemed split 50/50.
"When you eat rock," one joked, while others insisted, "Imperfection is beautiful too".
Teeth have increasingly become a signifier of class - with braces and aligners available to those who can afford them. A sense of discomfort appeared to descend over consumers of the ad, not quite sure what to do with teeth that didn't belong.
So, we decided to compile photos shared by our audience, of what teeth actually look like.
I'll start with my own.
Top Comments
Yep, that fluoride sure is working a treat. That is, if you think dental fluorosis is the new black.
Just imagine how bad they would have been without it.
It certainly doesn't look like a typical case of fluorosis.